Jessica Rose Mathy, Ed.D.Building Safer Schools Through Relationships

Speaking and professional learning

Sessions educators can use
the very next day.

Keynotes, workshops, and multi session series grounded in research and shaped by real classroom and district experience. Interactive, practical, and available in English and Spanish.

Educators walking and connecting in the exhibit hall at the CASCWA 2025 conference

Past stages

Signature talks

Topics I'm known for

Each topic can be delivered as a keynote, a hands on workshop, or a series. I tailor every session to your audience, goals, and data.

1

Signature session

Building Safer Schools Through Relationships

An educator’s perspective on school safety: a 50 to 60 minute session introducing The SSCC Practice™ for school safety professionals and educational leaders.

Authority creates compliance. Relationships create influence.

Every interaction with a student matters. Authority can establish boundaries and secure immediate compliance; relationships create the influence that helps students communicate honestly, accept guidance, repair harm, and make different choices in the future. Relationships do not replace accountability. They create the conditions that make accountability more understandable, dignified, and effective.

“The badge creates authority. The relationship creates influence.”

“Physical safety and emotional safety are not competing priorities. Together, they form the foundation of a safe and supportive school.”

For district and conference leaders

A professional learning framework, built around one practice staff will actually use.

This session introduces a professional learning framework for adult capacity building, grounded in doctoral research, social emotional learning literature, and implementation science, organized around a single, sustainable daily practice: The SSCC Practice™. Staff leave with something more durable than a training memory: a habit they can return to in the moments that matter most, without adding another initiative to an already full plate.

Topics covered

  • Physical safety + emotional safety. Why these are interdependent, not competing, priorities, and what that means for daily practice.
  • The SSCC Practice™. Steady, Scan, Connect, Close applied to common school situations, with live practice and scenario cards.
  • Observation vs. assumption. Differentiating observable behavior from interpretation, and why that distinction protects both students and adults.
  • Safety as a shared network. Partnering with teachers, administrators, counselors, and MTSS/PBIS teams so safety isn’t one role’s job alone.

Audience

School resource officers, school safety officers, campus security personnel, campus supervisors, district safety staff, and educational leaders who share responsibility for safe and supportive school environments.

Learning outcomes: what participants leave able to do

  • Recognize how ordinary student interactions influence trust, school climate, and prevention.
  • Distinguish physical safety from emotional safety while recognizing their interdependence.
  • Apply the SSCC Practice™ to common school situations.
  • Differentiate observable behavior from interpretation and assumption.
  • Use brief relationship centered language without surrendering clarity, boundaries, or accountability.
  • Identify practical ways to partner with teachers, administrators, counselors, and MTSS/PBIS teams.

Formats

  • 60 minute keynote. The full session, including active participation, reflection, feedback, and a group photograph.
  • 50 minute compression. A tightened version for shorter conference or in service slots, preserving all four practice components.
  • The SSCC Practice™ in Practice. An extended workshop format with role play, scenario cards, and a language shift practice activity.
2

Building Broad Buy In for MTSS

For district and site leadership teams

Most MTSS efforts don't fail on paper. They fail when the people doing the work don't see themselves in it. Drawing on an 11 school implementation, this session shows how to build ownership that lasts beyond the rollout.

  • Gradual release from district led to site owned systems
  • Data routines teams actually keep using
  • Aligning PBIS, attendance, and SEL into one coherent system
3

Who Did the Thinking? Teaching Students to Account for AI Use

For teachers, instructional coaches, and leaders

AI ethics will never be its own class, so it has to live inside the instruction we already give. This session shares four simple reflection questions students can use to show which thinking was theirs and which was the tool's.

  • Four authorship questions for any assignment
  • Embedding AI literacy into existing content areas
  • Why this is a career readiness skill, not a trend
4

Human First Learning: Handwriting, Screens, and AI

For leaders, conference audiences, and edtech partners

What does research say about learning by hand, and how do schools keep what matters about physical learning while gaining the benefits of digital systems? A forward looking talk from an educator who is also building the tools.

  • What the research says about handwriting and learning
  • Using technology more intentionally, not less
  • Protecting original student thinking in an AI world
5

PBIS That Lasts: From Rollout to Recognition

For PBIS teams, coaches, and county partners

A practical look at a multi year, districtwide PBIS professional learning series, built with a county office of education, where every one of 11 schools earned California PBIS recognition, from Bronze to Gold.

  • Designing a cohort series with structured reflection
  • Fidelity tools and celebration that keep teams going
  • Lessons learned from Tier 1 through Tier 3

Formats

Built around your calendar and your goals.

Keynote

45 to 75 minutes to open or close a conference or PD day.

Workshop

Half or full day, hands on, with tools teams leave ready to use.

Series

Multi session cohorts with coaching between sessions.

Virtual

Webinars and panels for teams across schools or regions.

Dr. Jessica Rose Mathy presenting and pointing to her slide at CASCWA 2025
Presenting "Building Districtwide PBIS Systems" at CASCWA 2025
Dr. Jessica Rose Mathy at the podium during her CASCWA 2025 session
Leading a session for school climate and attendance leaders

In the room

Learning that people lean into.

From district PD days to site team meetings, my sessions are interactive, collaborative, and built for the people doing the work.

Speaking and publications

Recent work

  • August 2022Welcome to At-Promise HousePublished article in ACSA EdCal, written with Rauna Fox. Read the article.
  • September 2023Building Broad Buy-In for MTSSWebinar panelist, edWeb. Watch the webinar.
  • 2023 to 2025Districtwide PBIS Professional Learning SeriesDesigned and delivered with the county office of education across 11 schools, all earning California PBIS recognition
  • April 2025Building Districtwide PBIS SystemsA Collaborative Journey to Improve Climate, Culture, and Equity. Presenter, CASCWA Conference. Watch the recording.

Why organizers book me

Credibility from every seat in the system.

I've taught, led a school's special programs, and coordinated MTSS for a district. Today I teach again, so what I share has been tested in a real classroom.

  • Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership (K-12)
  • KOI Tier 1 PBIS Trainer of Trainers
  • CPI Certified Trainer
  • Dare to Lead Trained
  • Bilingual presenter, English and Spanish

Media kit

Everything organizers need

  • Professional bio (15 second, 30 second, and 100 word versions)
  • Headshot and author portrait
  • Session description, learning outcomes, and AV requirements
  • SSCC pocket reference card for attendees
Request the full media kit

Testimonials

What participants say

Testimonials will appear here as sessions are delivered and permissions are collected.

Bring Building Safer Schools Through Relationships to your team.

Share your event date, audience, and what you'd like participants to walk away with. I'll reply within a few days with ideas and availability.